I'm (still) in the process of building a replica of the 1963 LeMans Jaguar,
raced by Cunningham. I spent a fair amount of time researching this color.
At first, I contacted the new Cunningham Motor Company
http://users.rcn.com/edwardh.nai/chm1.htm, and asked what they were using
on their C4R replica. It was a dark blue metallic. But digging into it, I
found some old color photos which suggested that a different color was
used. Specifically, this photo:
http://www.westnet.com/~mfrank/lmltwt2.jpg Looks a to be a lighter blue
than the color currently used by Cunningham. It's hard to tell from photos,
so I decided to keep digging. Eventually, I came across an original
Cunningham team C2R in the process of restoration. When some of the
upholstery was lifted, there was the original American racing blue stripe,
protected all these years and unoxodized. It was a very different color...a
medium blue, non-metallic. I think the color photographs poorly, due to the
bone white color of the cars screwing up the contrast. It also looks darker
or lighter depending on the ambient lighting conditions. Anyway, the color
we used, right or wrong, was Glasurit 4268A (Colormax). Here's how the car
looks "in paint":
http://www.jcna.com/gallery/imageview.php?Vpicurl=http://www.jcna.com/images/library/478608931020.jpg&Vpost=164&Vref=JCNA
I think that Cunningham dipped into the nearest paint can to do the
original stripes, he'd probably laugh to hear how much trouble I went
through to get the color "correct". I'd bet that no two cars have
*exactly* the same shade of blue. Judging from photographs, it seems the
color has grown progressively darker and more metallic over the years. I
really prefer the color we lifted from the C2R. That's the sum of my
knowledge on the subject: I don't know if it's "correct", but it's close.
Mike Frank
At 02:47 AM 3/22/03, Brad Eells wrote:
>Not to open a wide debate...but I would like to know if there is a body of
>opinion on the correct med/dk blue paint color for American racing colors?
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